Sprint Names New Executive Chairman, CEO

Today Sprint announced it is elevating Marcelo Claure to Executive Chairman and appointing Michel Combes to the role of Chief Executive Officer. Sprint recently came to an agreement with T-Mobile to merge the companies and operate under the name T-Mobile, pending regulatory approval.

Claure has served as CEO of Sprint since 2014 and will remain part of the Sprint senior management team. The changes are expected to take effect on May 31st. Sprint has already started looking for a new Chief Financial Officer to replace Combes.

“Marcelo has done a remarkable job of turning around the Sprint brand and business, driving enhanced network performance, strong subscriber growth and significant cost reductions leading to the best financial results in Sprint’s history,” said Masayoshi Son , Chairman and CEO of SoftBank Group Corp. “Marcelo has also positioned Sprint as a leader in the race to 5G, which promises to revolutionize the communications industry. He will continue to guide Sprint’sstrategy and momentum as Executive Chairman through a successful closing with T-Mobile .”

“Michel Combes is a proven industry veteran and the right executive to lead the next phase of our transformation,” said Mr. Claure. “Michel’s tremendous leadership and management skills and his 25 years of experience will be invaluable as we continue the subscriber and financial momentum we have.”

Claure’s duties will not be limited to the Board of Directors, however. The release also states that Claure will take over as the COO of SoftBank Group Corp. and CEO of SoftBank Group International. The release reads: “Among his other duties, Claure will continue to oversee SoftBank’s investment in Sprint and the combinedSprint / T-Mobile company following the closing of the companies’ pending merger. Claure will also be responsible for creating new opportunities and potential collaboration between Sprint and SoftBank’s portfolio companies in IoT, automation and artificial intelligence, all areas where SoftBank is actively investing. This will become increasingly important as Sprint and T-Mobile together move aggressively to deploy America’s first and leading 5G network.”